In 1931, the invasion of Manchuria secured the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo and in 1933, Operation Nekka detached the province of Jehol/Rehe from the Republic of China.

Blocked from further advance south by the Tanggu Truce, the Imperial Japanese Army turned its attention west, towards the Inner Mongolian provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, with the goal of establishing a northern China buffer state.

In April 1933, collaborationist General Liu Guitang, under Japanese orders, crossed into southeastern Chahar province in the Dolonor region, as a diversionary feint to draw off Chinese reinforcements to the Great Wall.

The Kuomintang military committee in Peking appointed General Fu Zuoyi as commander of Chinese 7th Army Group, and tasked him with providing Rehe border security.

Even the Japanese collaborator Liu Guitang switched sides, joining the Anti-Japanese Allied Army as did the Suiyuan bandit leader Wang Ying.

On June 21, Feng Yuxiang ordered the Anti-Japanese Allied Army to launch a counteroffensive in three columns to regain the lost territory.

On July 8, before dawn, Ji Hongchang began an assault on Dolonnur, capturing the two outer defense lines outside the city before being driven back with heavy casualties.

[3] When the Anti-Japanese Allied Army was proclaimed, the Kuomintang military committee in Peking issued an order to cut off passenger train service to Kalgan.

Chiang Kai-shek also used the Anti-Japanese Armies internal disunity against it, sending spies in to gather intelligence, create rumors, sow dissension, and buy or win over some of the leaders.

Ji Hongchang temporarily stopped the Japanese forces, but the effects of Chiang's blockade meant that food, clothing, ammunition and money were all in short supply.

Feng Yuxiang sent a telegram on August 5, announcing that he was going to officially disband the Anti-Japanese Allied Army and asked the national government to let Song Zheyuan return to oversee the process.

On September 10, Ji Hongchang went to Yunzhou (north of Chicheng) to meet with Fang Zhenwu, Tang Yulin, and Liu Guitang in a military conference, together they decided to reorganize their troops and changed their name to the 抗日讨贼军 "Resist Japan Thief Punitive Expeditionary Army", Fang Zhenwu was to be commander-in-chief, Tang Yulin deputy commander-in-chief, Liu Guitang Right Route commander, Ji Hongchang Left Route commander.

Liu's force blocked Tang's troops from following the rest of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army south, leaving Fang Zhenwu and Ji Hongchang to continue alone.

In response, Chiang Kai-shek permitted the establishment of the Mongol Local Autonomy Political Affairs Committee, but in its attempts to assert its authority it would engage in two serious clashes with Suiyuan provincial forces over the next year.

[7] General Jirō Minami, commander of the Kwantung Army and Colonel Seishirō Itagaki gave support to the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Government.

However, when General Minami sent Major Ryūkichi Tanaka and another officer to interview Prince Demchugdongrub in April 1935, an agreement could not be reached at that time.

On December 24, 1935, General Minami sent two battalions of irregular Manchurian cavalry under Li Shouxin, a squadron of Japanese planes, and a few tanks to assist Prince Demchugdongrub in occupying the northern part of Chahar province.

Following the promotion of General Seishiro Itagaki to Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, plans for the establishment of the invasion of Suiyuan went forward.

In late April 1936, Prince Demchugdongrub and Li Shouxin met with the Japanese Special Service Chief Captain Takayoshi Tanaka, at West Wuchumuhsin.

A mutual assistance agreement with Manchukuo was concluded in July 1936, and Japan agreed to provide both military and economic aid.

General Fu Zuoyi prepared for the expected Japanese-Inner Mongolian assault by seeking reinforcements for his provincial forces from the governor of Shanxi province Yan Xishan, as well as Chiang Kai-shek, who had moved his Central Army forces into Shaanxi province to attack Chinese Red Army units arriving there after the Long March.

On October 30, Yan Xishan and Fu Zuoyi met with Chiang Kai-shek, to assess the military situation and determine troop dispositions.

Wang and his Grand Han Righteous Army were trucked into a location near Pai-ling-miao and launched a counterattack, which failed dismally on December 19, with most of the attackers either taken prisoner or annihilated.

Small scale combat continued in Suiyuan until the beginning of open hostilities following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident the following year.